Eva Kolinsky - Opposition in Western Europe

Routledge Revivals

Opposition in
Western Europe

This book, first published in 1987, analysed the state and changing nature of political opposition in Western Europe at the time. For each country covered, it discusses the concept of opposition and the approach adopted by opposition parties. It explores the institutional framework that was in place at the time, the electoral support for opposition, attitudes towards opposition and the criteria for the success of opposition parties. It shows how opposition had changed in nature as a result of both voter re-alignments and also because some interest groups have engaged directly in opposition activities, rather than working through opposition parties as was done previously, thereby increasing the scope of extra parliamentary opposition. Opposition is a fundamental element in democratic politics, and this book therefore throws considerable light on the whole range of political activity in the countries covered. This title will be of interest to students of politics.

Opposition in
Western Europe

Edited by
Eva Kolinsky

First published in 1987
by Croom Helm Ltd

This edition first published in 2016 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

1987 Policy Studies Institute

The right of Eva Kolinsky to be identified as editor of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Publishers Note
The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent.

Disclaimer
The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and welcomes correspondence from those they have been unable to contact.

A Library of Congress record exists under LC control number: 87673913

ISBN 13: 978-1-138-95020-7 (hbk)
ISBN 13: 978-1-315-66883-3 (ebk)

PROFESSOR EVA KOLINSKY 29 June 1940 8 August 2005

Eva Kolinsky was an outstanding scholar who was involved in a great variety of research, as well as contributing to the growth of German studies in the UK.

Her doctoral thesis, awarded magna cum laude at the Free University of Berlin, concerned German expressionism in the first decades of the twentieth century. It set the tone of her later work in its interdisciplinary approach which sought to place its subject matter in its social and cultural context. Over the course of thirty-five years, she wrote and edited 17 books as well as producing numerous articles and other publications. She was also busy raising a family.

She came to England in 1967 with the award of a Volkswagen Foundation scholarship to the University of Birmingham. She continued her career at the University of Aston in Birmingham, and then briefly at the University of Bath before being appointed to a chair at the University of Keele in 1990. She retired in 1999, and became a very active Professorial Fellow at the University of Wolverhampton.

Her creativity and energy were apparent not only in the Departments she led, but also in the very wide range of professional groups in which she was active. In the post-German unity situation she helped bring together those who had studied the German Democratic Republic with the majority of the others who had concentrated on the Federal Republic. She edited and co-edited six volumes in this area, starting with a study of the city of Leipzig (published in 1995) and ending with an overview of the transition process in United and Divided Germany Since 1990 (published in 2004]. She was also one of the founding editors of the journal German Politics, as well as editing two book series [Modern German Studies, and German Culture and Society].

The scope of her work was phenomenal. She sought to understand and explain the political, social and cultural aspects of post-1945 Germany. The outcome was notable studies of women and family life, of minorities [Turkish and Vietnamese migrants, and Jewish Holocaust survivors], of cultural perceptions, and of political activity and organisation. The latter included studies of opposition, the emergence of the Green party, and the processes of reunification.

Her final, and seminal book, After the Holocaust: Jewish Survivors in Germany, was published in the autumn of 2004 just as she fell seriously ill with an incurable cancer. During a brief remission in the late spring of 2005, she began planning follow-up studies, but the disease returned aggressively. It cut short a creative, wise and compassionate life.

For more details about her life, academic publications, and other writings, see www.webmemorialforeva.co.uk

OPPOSITION
IN
WESTERN
EUROPE

Edited by
Eva Kolinsky

CROOM HELM
London & Sydney

1987 Policy Studies Institute

Croom Helm Ltd, Provident House, Burrell Row,
Beckenham, Kent, BR3 1AT

Croom Helm Australia, 44-50 Waterloo Road
North Ryde, 2113, New South Wales

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Opposition in Western Europe.
1. Democracy 2. Europe Politics and
government 1945
I. Kolinsky, Eva
321.8094 JN94.A2

ISBN 0-7099-3142-5

Typeset in 10pt Times Roman by Leaper & Gard Ltd, Bristol, England

Printed and bound in Great Britain by Mackays of Chatham Ltd, Kent